Our clients’ industries are changing. Communication strategies are changing. Baretz+Brunelle is changing.And we have thoughts to share on all of it.

With ILTACON 2018 just around the corner, I am wondering if legal tech companies will still be struggling with go-to-market strategies to the degree they were this spring. That’s when my Baretz+Brunelle colleagues published our first-ever Legal Tech Go-to-Market report, which summarized the legal tech industry’s challenges with go-to-market strategies. The legal tech executives who participated in B+B’s study of the issue indicated that the industry suffers from widespread confusion on three vital components of any go-to-market strategy: what to sell, how to sell it and whom to sell it to. In fact, an overwhelming 97 percent of survey respondents felt that the legal tech industry has no firm grasp of go-to-market strategy. Results like that took us aback and have been fueling conversations ever since.

In a recent Forbes article, Baretz+Brunelle Managing Director Erin Harrison wrote that lawyers have a lot to learn from the “nerds” running legal tech companies—particularly, their relentless focus on efficiency. But as Erin (and the results of our go-to-market study) indicated, even though legal tech’s ascendance gets a lot of attention, there’s plenty for legal tech companies to learn from the old pros in the industry they are disrupting. The careful preparation, the focus on strategy and the dramatic storylines that trial lawyers bring to their work could be very useful to legal tech companies in improving their go-to-market planning and execution.

Next week, Erin will be moderating a panel at ILTACON 2018 about e-discovery, one of the first areas of legal work in which legal tech companies gained a strong foothold. We’ll be listening closely to Erin’s panel on “The Future of eDiscovery,” expecting great insights on the latest disruptions in the area. We’ll also be keeping our ear to the ground during the conference for indications as to whether the broader legal tech industry has evolved in its understanding of go-to-market strategies. We’re particularly interested to hear how emerging companies talk about approaching their markets, and how more established players talk about the rollout of new products and services. We hope to hear evidence that the confusion over go-to-market strategies—and particularly the issues of what to sell, how to sell it and whom to sell it to—are diminishing over time. From my experience, ILTACON is the ideal venue to witness new advancements as the legal tech industry continues to mature.

Almost every law firm marketing department devotes resources to content marketing. One of the most oft-cited reasons for developing a content marketing strategy is to position lawyers as “thought leaders.” The logic driving this strategy is that establishing oneself as an expert on a topic of relevance to potential clients is a valuable business development tool.

Communications leaders need to not only embrace data, but also understand how to use it to drive business growth. This was one of many big-picture themes emphasized at PR News’ Measurement Bootcamp, which took place Nov. 9 at the Yale Club in Manhattan.

Famed litigator David Boies and his firm, Boies Schiller & Flexner, are currently living a legal, ethical and PR nightmare. News broke this week that Boies and his firm, while representing disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, hired a security firm to uncover “dirt” about Weinstein’s accusers and The New York Times journalists in an attempt to stop the publication of negative stories about Weinstein in The Times. That alone is ethically questionable, but the fact that The New York Times was also a Boies Schiller client elevated this to an entirely new level of crisis, and ultimately resulted in The Times firing Boies Schiller.

Recently I picked up Helen Rothberg’s book, “The Perfect Mix: Everything I Know About Leadership I Learned as a Bartender.” Expecting a wine-spritzer type of reading experience, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it packed more of a martini kind of punch, imparting wisdom on how to be a more effective leader that can be put to good use as a primer for legal marketing professionals who often face an uphill battle when trying to establish credibility with lawyers.

Perhaps the most ubiquitous term in the legal services industry today is “artificial intelligence,” known more commonly as AI. Indeed, we see AI everywhere – from the daily headlines in our news feeds to splashy marketing campaigns and social media calls to action. Yet the term itself is far from self-explanatory and the uninformed use of it, both within the media and by legal service providers, only exacerbates the confusion around what AI means to the practice of law.

Baretz+Brunelle is lucky and proud to have formed close relationships with several meaningful organizations for which we provide pro bono services. Two of them are having major events this month, and, as it turns out, their timing is perfect.

On Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, the world lost a true titan of rock ‘n’ roll. Tom Petty was America’s great common denominator. Everyone, it seemed, liked Petty.

The moment word broke that he had been discovered unresponsive at his Malibu home, and transported to UCLA Medical Center, newsrooms across the country went into hyper-drive. Social media posts rapidly multiplied. Obits were commenced. Sources were dialed. Comments from Petty’s fellow rock luminaries were sought. However, in an effort to be first with the seemingly imminent news of Petty’s death, a few prominent media outlets prematurely reported that he already died, setting off a wave of confusion, and ultimately condemnation from the rocker’s family.